KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - The Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis glides
in for a landing on Runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility at the
conclusion of the nine-day STS-84 mission. It will be the 37th landing
at KSC since the Shuttle program began in 1981, and the eighth
consecutive landing at KSC. STS-84 was the sixth of nine planned
dockings of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station
Mir. Atlantis was docked with the Mir for five days. STS-84 Mission
Specialist C. Michael Foale replaced astronaut and Mir 23 crew member
Jerry M. Linenger, who has been on the Russian space station since
Jan. 15. Linenger returned to Earth on Atlantis with the rest of the
STS-84 crew, Mission Commander Charles J. Precourt, Pilot Eileen Marie
Collins, and Mission Specialists Carlos I. Noriega, Edward Tsang Lu,
Elena V. Kondakova of the Russian Space Agency and Jean-Francois
Clervoy of the European Space Agency. Foale is scheduled to remain on
the Mir for approximately four months, until he is replaced by STS-86
crew member Wendy B. Lawrence in September. Besides the docking and
crew exchange, STS-84 included the transfer of more than 7,300 pounds
of water, logistics and science experiments and hardware to and from
the Mir. Scientific experiments conducted during the STS-84 mission,
and scheduled for Foale's stay on the Mir, are in the fields of
advanced technology, Earth sciences, fundamental biology, human life
sciences, International Space Station risk mitigation, microgravity
sciences and space sciences.
(Photo Release Date: 05/24/97
)

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